A Meeting of Like Minds
by mmouse15
Summary: How did Mirage meet Jazz and Bumblebee and become part of the Special Ops team?
1. A Meeting of Like Minds

Title: A Meeting of Like Minds

By: mmouse15

Rating: K+

Pairing/Characters: Jazz, Mirage, mentions of Ironhide, Prowl, Optimus Prime, Sentinel Prime

Warnings: none.

Summary: How did Mirage meet Jazz and become part of the Special Operations group?

Author's Notes: There is an OC at the beginning, but I needed someone to take the attention away from Jazz. The OC quickly fades away and is not central to the story for those of you allergic to OCs.

This is a gift for rusty-chevy - I hope you like it!

This was written April 2009.

* * *

Jazz walked with his second, Gliss, down the grungy corridor.

"Ya sure, Gliss?" he questioned.

"Promise, boss, there's a couple of 'bots that are worth a serious look for our corps. I really like this new way of doing things – y'know, wait until we've got at least ten and they've been in the base for an orn before figuring out where they should go for further training."

"Yeah, it is working better, but we're getting the short end of the deal; we haven't had a new 'bot in Special Ops for a quarter of a vorn, Gliss."

"Well, yeah, but part of that was the complete and total waste of time that was our last pick. We're only now recovered from his fragged up handling of missions. Idiot." Gliss snarled, still unhappy about the mess Special Ops was in. Gliss was unusual for Jazz's group in that his specialty was supplies. The biggest difference between Gliss and a regular supply mech was that Gliss didn't work through normal channels and Jazz had been quick to snag the mech when he could, bringing the supply expert into his tightly knit group and thus finally getting the materials and supplies they needed to do the missions that were impossible for anyone else.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo

Optimus Prime was new to his job, and one of the changes he'd implemented after taking over for Sentinel Prime was how new recruits to the Autobots were sorted out. Sentinel had been very much a mech of protocol, and his command structure had been based on quick decision and intensive training. Optimus ran a looser organization and there had been many changes in positions. Hound, for example, had been moved out from a desk job to a scout position and had proven himself an able and worthy addition to the information gathering arm of their rag-tag army. Various other bots had found themselves in new roles better suited to their talents. The result was a deep thread of optimism thrumming through the entire army.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo

They arrived at the largest room in their base where the newest batch of recruits was gathered together for their initiation into the Autobot forces. Gliss moved into position by Ironhide and Prowl, up on the slightly raised platform at one end of the room. Ironhide was in charge of the weapons training but was always looking for mechs to train in special security units that were hard-hitting, fast, and deadly. His latest addition was a pair of mechs that were strong, fearless, and worked together seamlessly. Prowl had been Sentinel's second-in-command and had remained in that position for Optimus. He had the joyless job of placing mechs not claimed by the other commanders. Gliss was there to provide a distraction, a focal point for the recruits to look at as Jazz evaluated them from the floor. The deception was an old one, with Gliss standing in as a placeholder for Special Ops while the real evaluation took place without many of the bots ever knowing they'd been evaluated. Ratchet, Optimus Prime's new MO, was looking for recruits to train in the medical field, while Ultra Magnus was there to recruit for the information gathering portion of the army. Right now, Jazz was in charge of a subgroup under Magnus but he was hoping that he could move his group out on their own.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo

Jazz slid into position, weaving through the mechs clustered about the floor of the room. He sized up a large black mech, passing over him to a small white mech that looked too young to be even thinking of being a soldier. He then moved to a slender mech with small doorwings and another slender mech in a rich shade of blue not seen outside the environs of the Towers. His gaze snapped back to the blue mech. Yup, a Towers brat, he'd bet his daily rations on it. The helm was different than anything he'd ever seen before, the vents that framed his face flowing down and spreading out over his shoulders. The entire deco of the helm looked liked an ancient Cybertronian headdress worn by a high priest or mystic back in the golden age of their planet. The construction of the mech's frame was of the highest quality and Jazz would have bet another day's rations that this mech's creators had spent more money on the materials for his frame than the entire Autobot army could scrape together now. His chest appeared delicate, his fingers were long and elegant, his proportions perfect. He had room around him as if everyone was afraid to intrude on his personal space.

_::Gliss. Tell me it isn't the Towers brat.::_

_::Talk to him.::_

Trusting his second's judgment, Jazz moved closer and stuck out his hand.

"Hi! I'm Jazz. What's your name?"

The blue mech looked appalled, and Jazz could help but grin as good manners triumphed over the revulsion the mech had over touching a commoner.

"How do you do? My designation is Mirage."

"Glad ta meechya, 'Raj! What brings a 'bot like you to our neck of the woods?" Jazz was grinning like the fool he was playing.

Mirage looked sad but quickly wiped the expression away and assumed a neutral look. "I am here because I refuse to the join the Decepticons that are destroying our planet with their insane war and Neutrals are being slaughtered like penned sheepacrons. The Towers…" here the mech choked, then cleared his intakes and resumed, "…with the fall of the Towers, I no longer have a home. I want the Decepticons to be wiped off this planet."

"Vengence don't last long. Ya gotta have a better reason than that for fightin' a war."

Mirage looked at him for a long moment, then answered, "Because they are dragging us back to the dark ages of our planet and I can not abide the loss of everything that is good and right about our planet, our people, and our lives."

"Sure, that sounds good, but what can you do?" Jazz shrugged and turned his body slightly toward the front of the room where he could see Optimus making his way to the platform. A hand on his arm stopped his movement.

"Perhaps nothing, but I have had the best of upbringings, and no expense was spared by my creators. I can shoot, track, hunt, and do not underestimate the pettiness of the rich and entitled. The furnishings may be nicer, but every event in the Towers is just a brutal as the Kaon pitfights and with more credits riding on the outcome." With that parting shot, Mirage turned his attention to the Prime. Jazz looked up and made optic contact with Gliss, who nodded his head toward the Towers mech. Jazz turned back to find that Mirage was no longer next to him. He looked around wildly, only coming to himself when his comm pinged.

_::Now do you believe me?::_

_::Where in th' Pit did he go?::_

_::He's over by Prowl.::_

Jazz looked and got a location on the Towers mech. He continued to move through the recruits but kept one optic on the blue mech that had so startled him. How had the mech done that? He had the keenest audio sensors of anyone he knew, he was experienced in using air waves and subtle sounds to locate objects, and this upstart formerly rich brat had essentially vanished right from right beside him and Jazz hadn't even noticed!

He finished moving through the mechs just as Optimus Prime stepped to the front of the platform after consulting with his SIC. His other target turned out to be the small white mech, who had used his size to his advantage and snagged a great location right at the front of the dais.

"Welcome. We are very glad to have you here, and I hope you've been made comfortable. My officers and I have taken the interviews you granted us, plus some observations and have decided upon tentative postings. Please, do keep in mind these are tentative. If you find that you have a poor fit, please let us know and we will work with you to get you into a position that will optimize your contribution to the Autobot cause."

Prowl stepped forward and began calling out names. As the mechs stepped forward, the officer in charge of the division introduced himself, even if they'd been introduced during the interviews, and welcomed the new recruit to their group. As each commander collected their newest recruits, they left the room. Finally, the group was winnowed down to two mechs, the small white one and Mirage. Prowl stepped forward and introduced himself, intending to take the two for further interviews.

"We'd like them, Prowl." Gliss stepped forward.

Prowl looked at the two bots and clarified, "Both of them?"

"Yup, both of 'em."

"They're yours."

"Thanks."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo

The two mechs followed Gliss down the corridors, Jazz trailing behind, until they reached the room reserved for Special Ops. It had originally been furnished as a conference room, but Jazz had stamped his special touch on the place. The original long table had been removed and replaced with a smaller round table. A large berth had been shoved in the corner and was currently covered with a series of maps and diagrams. The cabinets and shelves meant for refreshments were instead filled with wires and parts used to create explosive devices. Gliss poured three cubes of energon and passed them out, then turned to Jazz and spoke.

"I've got a bot to meet, he's got a lead on those tracking devices we want. I'm outta here for the next cycle or two."

"Take care of yerself; call if ya need me."

"No prob, Jazz. Later."

"Yeah, Gliss, later." Jazz turned to the two bots as Gliss exited. "My name's Jazz, and I'll be instructing ya on the finer points of being w' this group of mechs."

Mirage glanced around and nodded. "As you know, I am Mirage."

The little white mech finally spoke. "I…don't have a designation, sir. I was abandoned by my creator."

Jazz looked at him. "How old are ya? Or do ya know?"

"No, sir, I don't. I supposed I'm young, but I don't feel it."

Jazz nodded sharply. "I hear ya. I've been there myself. We'll figure out a designation for ya. Meanwhile, this is where yer gonna live for the time being. Th' thing about our group is that ya don't always know who's in the group and who's not. No sensitive material is left here, it's all contained under a hellova lot a codin' in our main computer. This…" and he waved at the maps littering the berth, "…is for show only. We work hard at deceiving everybot, including our side, about what we're doin'."

"What, exactly, is this group of mechs?" Mirage asked.

"We're Special Operations, meanin' we do everything that needs doing and sparing the big boss bots getting their hands dirty. We spy, we sneak, we blow things up, we do whatever needs doin'."

The white mech and the blue exchanged glances, then turned back to Jazz.

"And in the meantime, we're the ones that get the most direct hits on the Decepticons. Ya want revenge? We're the ones that dish it out. Join us, and we'll teach ya how to hit the 'Cons where it hurts them the most."

"I'm in." Mirage said.

"Me, too." This from the white mech.

"Welcome ta Special Ops." Jazz told them.


	2. Training Day

Title: Training Day

By: mmouse15

Rating: PG-13

Pairing/Characters: Jazz, Mirage, Bumblebee

Warnings: none.

Summary: Now that Mirage is part of Special Ops, how does he fit in?

Author's Notes: The idea of dots is totally cmdrtekk's, and is used with her permission. It's from her story _Holding Out for a Hero_. The training room was inspired by ante-luce's story _Of Bindings – An Acquainting and a Revelation_. I also draw inspiration from vejiraziel and vericus in portraying Jazz and Mirage.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The small white mech had taken the name Bumblebee, named for the mechanical insectoid that buzzed around Praxus and pollinated the crystals that grew so spectacularly there. He'd shown himself to be quick and agile. Mirage found himself working harder than ever, trying to keep up with a mech that was smaller than he was and faster. Mirage's only advantage was when they practiced stealth. His electrodisrupter allowed him to disappear, although he quickly discovered that he wasn't hidden from Jazz. The visor that Mirage had thought was an affectation was actually a powerful weapon itself, allowing Jazz to cycle through much of the spectrum and thus find a setting that allowed him to override the effects of the electrodisrupter and 'see' Mirage. Given that his best weapon could be bypassed, Mirage was working on the more traditional methods of not being seen. He was naturally a quiet mech, but was working on being even stealthier. Bumblebee was better at sliding into shadows, but once in the shadows, Mirage was better at staying perfectly still and quiet. Bumblebee fidgeted after a couple of breems, unable to keep still.

Mirage and Bumblebee stumbled into the Special Ops ready room. Mirage casually shoved the maps cluttering the berth off onto the floor and collapsed onto the flat surface. Bumblebee shoved at him until he moved over and sank down next to him. Their days were a seemingly endless round of weapons training, field simulations, agility training, and testing. They had a three breem break before their next round of training and both were exhausted. They both dropped offline within a couple of clicks. When his internal alarm went off, Mirage groaned and slapped Bumblebee, waking him.

"What was that for?" grouched Bumblebee.

"We're due to train with Jazz in a half a breem. Get up."

Bumblebee did so, the grumbling he would have voiced an orn ago swallowed by the haze of exhaustion he felt. Mirage sympathized, but was dealing with his own problems. He grabbed two cubes, filled them with energon and shoved one in Bumblebee's hand. They both swallowed the rations, feeling the energy reviving their systems. They put the cubes back and exited the room, heading toward the weapons training area of the base.

Once there, they looked around for Jazz, unsurprised to find him talking to Ironhide. They didn't know the other bot in the group, but Mirage felt that he should know who it was given the bot's distinctive design. A laugh rose from the group and they broke apart, the unknown bot leaving, Ironhide heading into the armory, and Jazz coming over to them.

"Today we're going to learn about destruction and distraction, gentlemechs." Jazz told them. "I've got a fun drill planned today. Let's head in here." He led them to one of the better reinforced rooms, one that doubled as a bunker in case of direct attack. Ironhide came out of the armory and passed Jazz a small box, then left.

Once in the room, Mirage and Bumblebee prepared to learn all they could about their new task. Jazz opened the box and pulled out some tiny balls.

"These 'r called dots. They're a nifty little explosive, tuned to yer frequencies. They stick ta any surface, and they can be used as a great distraction. If ya put a cluster of them together, they're perfectly capable of blowin' a lock or a hole in the wall. Every Ops agent carries at least a handful, some carry more than that."

Jazz handed each of them a handful of the dots for them to explore. They were a small ball of gelatinous material, slightly sticky to the touch. Jazz showed them how to palm the dots so they would stick to any surface. A drop of oil could be used to coat the dots so they weren't sticky and thus able to slide down air ducts or other slanted conduits. For the rest of the joor, they played with the dots, sticking them to surfaces and exploding them, figuring out how they worked and what ways worked best. Mirage had great skill at emplacing the dots, his sensitive plating well suited to the delicate brushing motion that placed the explosive on a surface. Bumblebee fumbled a bit more until Mirage showed him that it wasn't a stick and remove your hand (since the dot was just as likely to continue sticking to your hand), it was more of a brush and let the dot be lifted from his hand. After a couple of breems, Bumblebee was almost as good as Mirage at placing the dots where ever he wanted. Jazz rigged up some piping so they could practice dropping the dots down a hole and exploding them. It was a fruitful joor and the two mechs felt they had done well with this particular lesson.

The next cycle, Jazz hauled them to another room where they learned how to bypass a lock. Of course, they couldn't use override codes since those were logged and the last thing the Autobots wanted was for the Decepticons to know which Autobots had broken through their door.

So Jazz was showing them physical methods of bypassing locks. Bumblebee was startlingly good at this, but Mirage's sensitivity of touch was a great aid to physically manipulating a lock. They shared ideas and tips and Jazz was pleased with both of them and suggested a round in the training room.

Mirage and Bumblebee agreed eagerly, having heard about the hard-light training room from the mech that had shown them around the base. Smokescreen had been very enthusiastic about the training room and had infused both Mirage and Bee with the desire to run a simulation in this state-of-the-art room.

Jazz took them to the room, introducing them to Cliffjumper, a small bot with almost the same build as Bumblebee. Cliffjumper would monitor them and shut the simulation down if they got into trouble. They pinged him with their personal comms, he registered them in the room's log and removed himself to the control room.

"OK, yer objective is to get from th' door to ta other side o' th' room. Ya do whatever ya need ta make tha' objective," Jazz told them, pointing to a large red spot on the wall, "Tap tha' spot and th' simulation shuts down. Any questions?"

"Yes, sir. Do we work together or separately?"

"Up ta you." Jazz looked at them expectantly.

"Together?" Mirage asked Bumblebee.

"Yes." They pressed their hands against each other's forearms and turned to face the room, which was fading into a broken cityscape.

Jazz had disappeared on them. Mirage slid around so his back was to Bumblebee's and surveyed the area. Bee tapped his leg and pointed to an alcove. Nodding, Mirage covered him as the white bot slid along the wall to the little niche and prepared to cover for Mirage as he moved along the wall.

A shot landed just behind him and he dove for the alcove, Bumblebee grabbing his arm and pulling him in while returning the shot. Mirage tucked himself behind Bee for a moment, then leaned forward and whispered "I'm going to disappear. Track me with this." He pressed a locator beacon into Bee's hand and turned on his electrodisrupter. Carefully, he eased out of the niche and moved down the street. Reaching the corner, he peered around it and saw a Decepticon stationed in such a way that anyone coming around the corner would be shot immediately. Mirage checked the light, to make sure he wasn't casting a shadow, then carefully moved around the corner. The Decepticon didn't react, and Mirage got into a position to take the enemy out, then shot him cleanly through the CPU, dropping him as he knelt. He moved back around the corner and became visible, waving Bumblebee over.

Working this way, they made their way across half the room before the program adapted to their tactics. Bumblebee had become more aggressive, although not overly so, and was close on Mirage's tracks when the Decepticon came hurling out of a hidden doorway and crashed into an invisible Mirage. The two grappled, each trying to get a grip on the other. Mirage was at an enormous disadvantage because he was so much smaller than the 'Con that had attacked him, but he was more nimble and able to dodge the lunging grabs the big 'Con was using. Suddenly, the Decepticon gave an eerie gurgle and pitched over, his primary energon lines cut cleanly and completely. Bumblebee calmly wiped the energon off the blade that had appeared from his forearm and folded it back into his armour once the blade was clean. Mirage gaped at him, and Bumblebee gave him a tight smile, then indicated with his hand that Mirage should continue their forward motion. Mirage climbed to his feet and nodded, once again activating his electrodisrupter and moving forward.

They had worked out a series of hand signals, but it was dependent upon Mirage making himself visible. Bumblebee did better, knowing where Mirage was and able to signal him as needed. Bee had caught onto working together very quickly, and Mirage gave a passing thought to Bumblebee's origin, but dismissed it as unimportant at this time and focused on his footing, since noise would give him away to the enemy.

Bumblebee, for his part, showed that whatever his origins, he was rather deadly. He came up behind another attacker and had his energon lines cut and the body down to the pavement before Mirage knew he was in trouble. Bumblebee was very calm about this, and Mirage had to remind himself that this was a simulation and these were not real bodies, merely hardlight simulacrums. Of course Bee wasn't upset because he wasn't really killing mechs, but he seemed much calmer that Mirage felt was proper.

They had made it two-thirds of the way across the room when disaster struck. A building was booby-trapped and toppled over onto Mirage, trapping him and making obvious where he was since the void he left couldn't be disguised. Bee snarled wordlessly at three 'Cons edging in and handed his rifle to Mirage. Mirage, for his part, cut the power to the disrupter and re-routed it to his healing functions. Bee crouched down and motioned to one of the 'Cons, inviting him to a fight. With a nasty laugh, the 'Con accepted and strode forward.

Bumblebee became a blur, ducking under the much larger mech and swarming up his back, his blade out and through the mech's throat so quickly Mirage had a difficult time grasping exactly what had happened. Bee didn't pause, however, and used the mech's back to push off and leap toward another of the attacking 'Cons, landing near his shoulder and using his blade as a tool, stabbing it into the mech's body and then using a handhold to pull himself up before retracting the blade and then unsheathing it in the mech's throat. Mirage finally shook himself out of his shock and used the rifle to shoot the last mech through the head, dropping him with one shot. He swung around, checking their backs, and waiting for Bumblebee to finish.

The smaller mech clambered over the rubble, peering at the blocks that were trapping Mirage's lower leg. Nodding, he climbed back down the pile and excavated a length of metal that had been part of the support for the building. He brought the metal back up and carefully wedged it into a crack by Mirage's foot, then leaned against it, raising the slab and freeing Mirage's leg. He was quick to take advantage, pulling his foot free and rolling away from the spot he'd been in. Bee slowly lowered the slab and pulled the metal spar out before reclaiming his rifle. Mirage limped a little bit, but not enough to stop him, and they continued on their way. They could see their target and became even more cautious, feeling that the last stretch would be the worst.

Peering around the final corner, Mirage saw Jazz leaning up against the wall, right next to the target. He took another look around and saw a Decepticon lurking, out of sight of Jazz but within his line of vision. Ducking back, he quickly became visible and communicated his discovery to Bumblebee. Nodding, Bee came up behind him and Mirage again became invisible and moved out, leaving Bumblebee to cover the corner.

Mirage carefully moved along the wall, picking his footing with care. The slightest noise would give his position away, and he couldn't afford mistakes. Jazz couldn't afford a mistake, either, and Mirage carefully lined up his shot once he was in position before pulling the trigger and dropping the 'Con in his tracks.

To Mirage's surprise, the 'Con didn't drop, instead lurching forward. Bumblebee covered for him, another shot taking the Decepticon through the torso and stopping him in his tracks. Jazz had his pistol out, crouching down to make himself as small a target as possible as he evaluated the situation. The wounded mech swayed, garbled noise coming from his vocalizer before he toppled forward, landing with a loud crash.

Bumblebee was already moving, heading for the target to shut the room down before more 'Cons came to their location, beckoned by the inevitable noise. Jazz beat him to it, tapping the target once Mirage again became visible and moved back toward them, his optics sweeping his side of the room for any viable targets.

Once the spot was slapped, the cityscape faded away and left only the hardlight simulacrums in position, allowing Jazz and any other evaluators to examine the kills and their relative positions to the landscape, which would be accessible from the room's logs.

Letting out a gust of air that spiraled into a whistling noise, Jazz looked at the number of dead 'Cons littering the room. He turned and looked at the two recruits, then grinned.

"Nice job. I knew I got ya two fer a reason. I never had a team run the room so fast or with so many kills. I'm impressed."

Cliffjumper broke in at that point, "Jazz, you need to take a look at Bumblebee's weapon. He's deadly with it."

Bee obligingly unfolded his blade for Jazz's examination. Jazz looked it over carefully, then allowed Bee to fold it back into his forearm. He waved to Cliffjumper and escorted them out of the training room and back to the Special Ops ready room. Once there, he motioned them to seats at the table and got cubes of energon for them.

Once seated, Jazz looked them both over carefully, then began speaking.

"Special Ops is th' hardest job in the army. We do our best ta keep ya alive, but there's no guarantee. Ya understand?"

Mirage and Bumblebee both nodded.

"Good. One o' tha ways we try ta keep our guys alive is by forming teams. Each team consists o' three mechs, each with a specialized job ta do. With me so far?"

Again they indicated their assent. Jazz continued, "Th' first mech necessary is th' spy. He's the one tha' goes first, is the quietest, scopes the situation and reports back. Right?"

"Yes." Mirage agreed, thinking he knew where this was going.

"Right. Th' second member is th' saboteur. He, or she, specializes in blowing stuff up, destroying vital systems, turning viruses loose on unsuspecting systems, and in general using destruction and mayhem ta cover th' theft of vital data and ta get the team outta wherever they are."

"Sure, I can see that." Bumblebee agreed.

"Last, but definitely not least, th' third member of the team is the assassin. He's th' bot sent in to take someone out, and he's got to be ruthless. There can't be any noise, and there can't be any mistakes. He's also got ta cover the rest o' tha team and he has the authority to kill if tha's what it takes ta get the team out."

"So each team is only ever three members?" Mirage asked.

"Nah. We've got some teams that are two mechs and some that are four. We've got a team that's five mechs, but it's pretty specialized – they do industrial sabotage, take down entire districts and whatnot."

"So…why tell us this?" Bee wanted to know.

"Because I've been wit'out a team fer a while now, and I want you, both of ya, to be my teammates."

Mirage was stunned. "In what…capacity, exactly?"

Jazz grinned, "I'm th' saboteur, yer th' spy, and Bee here is th' assassin."

Bumblebee seemed equally stunned, but managed to get out, "But, why us?"

"Ya work well t'gether. I noticed that, t'day, and ya figured out how ta get across tha' room right quick. We have never had two recruits get through tha' room on their first try before t'day."

Mirage was reeling from all the information, but that little particle of news caused him to grin at Bee, who was grinning right back. Very shortly thereafter, they were both laughing so hard they had to rest their heads on the table's top.

When they had recovered, Jazz was grinning at them.

"Well?" he asked.

Mirage and Bee exchanged a look, then simultaneously answered, "Yes!"

The End.


	3. No One Behind Me

Title: No One Behind Me  
Characters: Mirage, Bumblebee, Jazz  
Verse: G1, AU  
Warnings/Content: war time violence and destruction  
Prompt: Scenario - 'If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.' Niccolo Machiavelli  
A/N: Written for prompt #2 at tf_speedwriting in an hour.

* * *

Bumblebee slipped up behind the Decepticon guard, his solid energon blade smoothly sliding out from its sheath in his forearm. He waited until the guard turned at the end of his patrol and stepped into his body, the blade sliding neatly through the cables and lines of the guard's throat. The Decepticon slid to the ground, energon spraying from his lines, air wheezing out, collapsing to his knees, which brought him down to Bumblebee's reach. Bee didn't hesitate, slamming his fist through the gaping hole made by his knife, wrapping his fingers around the mech's comm unit embedded in the back of his neck and ripping it out.

The Decepticons would know something had happened when this guard dropped off their comm network, but by then, he and his team would be on their way out. Bee had learned the hard way to never leave a Decepticon behind him that could strike back. He was ruthless in his elimination of threats, and Jazz had learned to appreciate that Bumblebee, although sunny in nature, was absolutely deadly in the field.

Mirage shimmered into existence beside Bumblebee, and the minibot stepped close to his team mate, allowing the electro-disrupter to hide them both from any normal optical range. Holding onto Mirage's hand, Bee allowed his blade to flip back into its holder and followed the invisible pull on his hand. Once he was in position, Mirage let go of his hand and Bumblebee shimmered into the visible spectrum once again.

Nodding, Bee moved into position. He trusted that Mirage was moving into his own position, and that Jazz was where he needed to be. The huge gate and wall of the Decepticon fortress dominated the horizon in front of him, and Bumblebee drew a sharp ventilation of air. Jazz had them tackling this fortress, which was a stronghold of the Seekers, a place where the air-bourne divisions of the Decepticon forces flew from with impunity, striking the Autobots where and when they wished. Their Prime had made it clear that the air forces would have to be eliminated for future battles to succeed against the Decepticons.

Bee had no idea how they were going to go about this. Mirage had been gone for three orns, gathering information about the fortress. Knowing him, he had fueled up and snuck into the fortress, using his electro-disrupter and his natural abilities, honed through vorns of practice, to keep himself from being caught and to map the entire structure.

Now it was Jazz's game. He was inside the fortress, doing whatever he was going to do to sabotage the place. Bumblebee's job in the team was to eliminate any threats that could impede them or cause them harm. Jazz had learned to appreciate Bee's natural predilection, which was to make sure that any Decepticon he brought down stayed down and was no longer a threat to them. If Optimus gave an order that no Decepticons were to be killed, Bumblebee made sure they had no comm units and that their gross motor function was disabled, usually permanently.

Shaking his helm slightly, Bee brought his attention back to the fortress in front of him. Now he needed to activate the distraction and draw everyone's attention to the front gate. He pulled a small box from subspace and placed it under a large slab of metal from a collapsed building, then moved to his next station quietly, planting another and moving on until he'd ringed his half of the front with boxes, scattered about. He smoothly moved away, moving erratically and freezing in place at odd moments, doing his best to behave like one of the native scavengers. Finally done, he withdrew back from the gate to the rendezvous point.

Once there, he waited. A soft clicking noise caught his attention, and he focused on it with his audios, his other sensor arrays scanning for other life forms and traps. He nodded, once, and Mirage shimmered into existence a little way in front of him. Bee nodded again and triggered his first box.

A pillar of flame shot into the air. Mirage triggered his box, and a spray of multi-coloured sparks began flaring from that box.

An alarm rang out across the ravaged landscape before them, and the massive gates creaked open, spilling Decepticon forces from inside the fortress.

"Time t'go, gentlemechs." A soft voice breathed in their audios, and Bumblebee and Mirage set their remotes to automatically set off the boxes before pulling back and making their escape on Jazz's heels.

They slid through the twisted remnants of the city, moving toward the metallic hills that ringed the outer fringes of the city's remains. Once there, Jazz veered and led them toward a small canyon, not the main one they'd used before. Trusting him, Bee and Mirage followed in his footsteps.

At the very edge of the canyon, Jazz paused and looked back. The last couple of boxes Wheeljack had created went off. By now, an enormous force of Decepticons were arrayed before the gate, weapons bristling. Even the air forces were on the ground, backing the ground-bound forces.

A deep rumbling came toward them, and Bumblebee was surprised that he felt it, not just with his audios, but in his feet. Jazz looked extremely satisfied.

"It failed, Jazz." Mirage said.

"Nope. Wait for it." Jazz told them.

The massive tower that was the central feature of the fortress began to sink. Bumblebee hastily cycled his optics, unable to believe the data they were sending his processor. He looked again. The tower was sinking faster now, and the Decepticon forces seemed to be milling about rather than keeping their lines.

The bottom dropped out under them, and Jazz pressed a small box in his hands. Screams echoed across the plain. Bee looked at his commander, and Jazz gave him a nasty smile.

"I just disabled all flight protocols through a virus I introduced. All the fliers…can't."

"Leave no mech behind you that can take you out." Mirage said.

"Eliminate the threat permanently." Bumblebee said at the same time.

Jazz nodded. "Exactly. Let's get back and tell Optimus his forces are safe from these fliers."

Bumblebee chanced one final look back. Where the Decepticon fortress had been was a massive sinkhole, dust and debris billowing up, obscuring the stars. Turning firmly forward, Bumblebee followed his team mates, leaving behind an army of dead enemies.

~Finis


End file.
